Retired Army Chief Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera and UNP’s Chief
Ministerial candidate for the North Central Province has rejected a
four-man police squad offered by the government following reports of LTTE
threats on his life.

The war veteran said the Ministerial Security Division (MSD)
had discussed the deployment with him over the weekend but he turned down
the offer. "This is an obvious face saving measure on the part of the
government," he told The Island, urging the State to ensure his
security in the run up to the August 23 NCP polls.

Vowing that he firmly believed in militarily crushing the
LTTE, the former Ambassador said four police officers wouldn’t be able to
handle his security. Asked to elaborate, he said his security contingent
should be double in strength to that of UPFA Chief Ministerial candidate
Berty Premalal Dissanayake’s group. He endorsed the ongoing efforts to
destroy the LTTE while asserting the final solution as always articulated
by the UNP should be political.

Perera, a professional soldier for 35 years, said his
rival’s security contingent comprised 30 Signals Corps personnel, 28
police officers and 12 Civil Defence Force. The Signals Corps personnel
aren’t the ordinary soldiers but well trained men in counter-terrorism
operations. Dissanayake had been also provided with 12 vehicles, he said.

He called for a realistic security assessment without
mixing politics with security issues.

The former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the elite
53 Division said he wouldn’t dispute Dissanayake’s right to receive
security. But the government should be alert to the security threat faced
by the Opposition, he said. "Recently, police warned me of a severe threat
to my life," he said, but unfortunately they had done absolutely nothing
to thwart a possible LTTE attempt.

He said the Rajapaksa administration which had repeatedly
vowed to destroy the LTTE couldn’t have been unaware of his contribution
at the battlefield. "Troops under my command inflicted three major
battlefield losses on the LTTE in 1995 in Ahchelu, Welioya and the Jaffna
town," he said. They were some of the biggest losses suffered by the LTTE
at that time, he asserted, adding Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
and Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka as officers who had fought
alongside with him would know his role. The LTTE would also try to hunt
down those who had inflicted losses on them, he said.

He said the defence of Jaffna after the fall of the
strategic Elephant Pass base in April 2000, too, had been led by him and
the present Army Commander who was then the Jaffna Security Forces
Commander.

Perera said during his tenure as the Ambassador to Jakarta
(May 2005-April 2007), the LTTE lost one of its top arms procurement
agents based there.

Responding to our queries, Perera asserted the breakaway
LTTE faction (TMVP) could target him in the NCP as they had fielded
Mangala Master on the government ticket in the Polonnaruwa District. "We
aware of the presence of some TMVP cadres in the Anuradhapura District,"
he said, warning their entry could jeopardise security in the entire area.

Perera who had qualified for university entry in 1966 to
study Geology quit Peradeniya to join the army to complete a two-year
basic Cadet course in Sandhurst. He also discussed the raising of the
Independent Brigade comprising Special Forces and Commandos in 1990 which
he commanded for four and half years and the Reserve Strike Force (53
Division) which he led for two and half years